Dutch Photo Exposition on Twenty Years Marriage Equality Besmirched

In Amsterdam, vandals have besmirched the city’s celebratory photo exposition on the anniversary of twenty years marriage equality in the Netherlands. In 2001, the Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage and granting couples the same rights as heterosexual married couples.

Launched on the first of April and commissioned by the Municipality of Amsterdam, the photo exposition called Legale Liefde, Dutch for legal love, shows a series of twenty portraits of same-sex couples who got married in the last twenty years looking into the camera. All couples are accompanied by a personal background story. The exposition was created by photographer and artist Ernst Coppejan and Open Mind Foundation with the purpose of looking “Back on 20 years of marriage between partners of the same sex” whilst also keeping in mind “What we still need to do to achieve equality for lgbtqia+ persons”.

But now, the exposition has been vandalised with think grey graffiti running across the necks of the couples, “as if someone wants to behead them symbolically”, according to Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant.

De Volkskrant spoke with Coppejan, who told them he was already prepared for a message of his art being vandalised. “I was surprised when I saw the emotional impact it had on me”, Coppejan is quoted as saying. Open Mind Foundation received a photo of the vandalised exposition through Facebook from a resident of the neighbourhood where the photos are currently installed. It made quite the impact. “We talked about the possibility of the photos being besmirched with quotes or phrases, but these stripes leave little to the imagination. It is a direct attack on the exposition. We immediately send an email to the couples, who were shocked to see themselves like this.”

The organisers have decided, together with the Municipality of Amsterdam, to print new photos and restore the exposition to its former state. According to the organisation, it shows that the last word on LGBTQ+ equality and acceptance has not been spoken. Bekker-Stoop, Open Mind Foundation’s director, says that the vandalism “Shows that we have to continue this conversation”, while Coppejan calls the event an “act of cowardice”. “I would like to speak to the person who thought it necessary to draw those lines”.

Legale Liefde will be installed again this Friday. On 6 August, the exposition moves to another part of Amsterdam. Once been shown in all of the city’s districts, it will travel across the country.

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